Monthly Walk + Talk event set to start in Rushden to give people the opportunity to open up about mental health

The conversation surrounding mental health is growing by the day, and Walk + Talk promises a new monthly walk to help people open up.

Walk + Talk is a project set up by Brandon Cox, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, with the hope of having a prolonged impact on the way that people everywhere approach their mental well-being.

North Northamptonshire is where the initiative will begin, though, as the first walk starts at 10am at Rushden and Higham Rugby Club on March 4. The hope is to make it a monthly occurrence, selecting a different starting point each time.

What is forged in Rushden has plans to stretch into Bedfordshire, Sussex, Kent and the Isles of Scilly as soon as April as Walk + Talk hopes to improve the narrative around mental health around the country.

Organiser of Walk + Talk Brandon Cox said: “I’d love to save a life from suicide.

“Just one and it’s worked.

“I want people to be able to get out of their house on a Saturday morning and talk about their mental health problems, life problems, anxiety, depression, anything they are willing and want to open up to.

“The feedback I’ve had already from organising this walk is enormous and little do we know of how people are actually feeling on a daily basis, what they are dealing with, and how lonely they could feel."

The idea for Walk + Talk was forged after Brandon Cox’ friend, Blake, took his own life before Christmas. Not long after, he and his brother walked around Dover, seeing first-hand the benefits that a ramble can have on the way someone feels.

Since then it has been quite the operation getting Walk + Talk off the ground.

They added: “It’s been a learning curve to say the least, setting everything up, I have to have a few hours each day to put my phone down to give me a rest from it. I just want everyone to know what it could be and there is Walk + Talk here to help.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to help assist in the running of the monthly events, which can be found here.